The present invention relates to a butterfly body.
The present invention relates in particular to a butterfly body with a motor-driven control of the butterfly valve, particularly adapted to be mounted on an internal combustion engine for automobile vehicles and the like; the following description will make explicit reference to this application without entering into superfluous detail.
As is known, the butterfly bodies for automobile engineering uses that are commercially available at present can be divided into two groups: the first group includes butterfly bodies in which the butterfly valve is controlled by cable and the second group includes butterfly bodies in which the butterfly valve is controlled by means of electrical actuators.
Normally, butterfly bodies of the first group are made almost entirely from plastic in order to minimise production costs, while butterfly bodies of the second group still continue to be made almost entirely from metal, in order to ensure sufficient heat dispersion for the electrical actuator.
Unfortunately, butterfly bodies of the second group have very high production costs which, as they are substantially higher than those of butterfly bodies of the first group, prevent their wide-scale use despite the advantages that their use would provide from the point of view of reducing polluting emissions.
The butterfly bodies of the second group are designed such that they can be driven directly by the electronic control unit of the engine and are therefore able accurately to regulate the intake of air to the internal combustion engine as a function of its operating conditions, irrespective of the demands of the driver.
The object of the present invention is to provide a butterfly body of the second group whose production costs are comparable to those of a butterfly body of the first group.
The present invention therefore relates to a butterfly body comprising a valve body provided with a through duct, a butterfly valve moving on command within this through duct in order to regulate the flow of fluid through the through duct, and a device for moving the butterfly valve mechanically coupled to this butterfly valve in order to be able to vary, on command, the position of the latter within the duct so as to control the flow of air flowing through the through duct, this movement device comprising an electrical actuator, and the butterfly body being characterised in that the valve body is made from plastic and is provided with a bushing of metal, within which the electrical actuator is adapted to be housed.